Start small and make adjustments based on facts – iterate. If you don’t get what you expect make changes.

Keep the big picture in mind (in many dimensions). After all, you’re trying to address the needs of the enterprise and not usually just a silo, at the end of the day.

Moving to cloud implies moving from operational thinking to a services mindset. Too many companies still bother about the underlying technology, forgetting to realize they now buy and integrate a service.

Lately I’ve been looking at projects and this concept of uncertainty and risk is becoming something I think about more every day. I no longer receive a project plan without asking for the level of certainty associated with it by the people who created it.

In technology projects there are always risks. Show me a project with no risks and I’m now really concerned. The same is true about a project with no assumptions documented. Sharing this information with the leadership enables better decision making -- it enables them to lead instead of manage.

One team’s risk is another’s opportunity. You just need to understand which side of the equation you are living on.

Steve Simske is an HP Fellow and Director in the Printing and Content Delivery Lab in Hewlett-Packard Labs, and is the Director and Chief Technologist for the HP Labs Security Printing and Imaging program.